Activist Sudha Bharadwaj arrested, taken to custody by Pune Police

Pune, Oct 27: The police have taken Sudha Bharadwaj into custody after her bail plea was rejected by a Pune court.

She was formally arrested today. Although the police had reached her home yesterday, they were unable to take her into custody as the laws do not permit the arrest of a lady after sunset.

The Pune court had rejected the bail pleas of Sudha, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves. Ferriera and Gonsalves were arrested in Mumbai on Friday itself.

The activists said to be close to naxalites had been under house arrest since August 29.

The Supreme Court had on September 28 given them four weeks time to seek legal remedies. It may be recalled that hey had been first arrested on August 28 along with Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

Earlier this week a review had been filed challenging the decision of the Supreme Court.

The court had however refused an early hearing in the case. The court also refused to entertain the plea of the defence lawyers that Pune Police be restrained from arresting them for a week to enable them to appeal this decision in a higher court. Immediately after this, teams of Pune Police which were already in Mumbai, moved to take custody of Gonsalves and Ferreira.

Ferreira and Gonsalves tried to seek extension of their house arrest from the Bombay High Court but the plea was rejected. The matter has been posted for hearing on November 1.